A former Tulsa Public Schools administrator and two contractors are charged with defrauding and embezzling nearly $780,000 from voter-approved bond funds in what Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond called an “elaborate and very sophisticated scheme” that was difficult to detect.
Chris Hudgins, the former TPS executive director of bond and energy management, is accused of funneling contracts to Allied Engineering Group for roofing work at various schools that was not necessary or completed. Allied then kicked back money received from TPS to Hudgins, according to the charging documents.
Charged in 27 counts are Hudgins, along with Allied Engineering Group partners Gayle Dean Gwinup and Thomas Edward McKenna. Prosecutors say TPS paid Allied Engineering Group $779,317.19. Allied, according to the documents, then gave $736,878.64 to Hudgins through his personal business, M & G Consulting. The maximum sentence for each count ranges from five to 10 years.
“This was not a mistake. It was not an oversight,” Drummond said. “This was a deliberate and coordinated scheme to defraud Tulsa Public Schools and voters.”
The investigation is ongoing, and prosecutors said more charges are possible. Charges were filed Thursday to meet the statute of limitations on the kickback allegations.
“Tulsa residents went to the polls and said yes — yes to better schools, yes to improved facilities — all for your children. Hudgins and his co-defendants said yes to lining their own pockets instead,” Drummond said. “Public corruption, especially corruption that harms children and betrays voters, will not be tolerated on my watch.”
Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said the investigation took a long time due to the financial complexities.
“We had community members, even within the school board, who were saying, ‘Hey, something is wrong with regard to the money that’s going through TPS. Why do we have such poor performance, and, yet, we have such a large budget?’” Kunzweiler said. “Sometimes those types of concerns you can’t really speak to at the time.”
Arrests of the defendants are expected soon.
“This is one step in the process, and I’m confident there will be continued investigations,” Kunzweiler said. “It is important to say they are presumed innocent, and they will remain innocent until a judge or jury determines otherwise.”
Prosecutors are building on the work from a February 2025 forensic audit, completed by State Auditor Cindy Byrd at the request of Gov. Kevin Stitt. That stemmed from the criminal wrongdoing of former administrator Devin Fletcher, who pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding TPS and the Foundation for Tulsa Schools. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $593,492.
The forensic audit found more than 1,440 irregularities across 900 transactions involving more than 90 vendors between 2015 and 2023. TPS spent more than $25 million without following bidding requirements, and administrators routinely structured payments below the $50,000 threshold that would have triggered more oversight.
It specifically highlighted Hudgins as improperly operating a personal business using school resources and recommended law enforcement review his relationship with Allied Engineering Group.
That was enough for Drummond’s office to ask for a deeper forensic exam in coordination with state auditors. He said the fraud was “elaborate and very sophisticated” with what appeared to be proper documentation, including architectural renderings and a financial paper trail.
“I do not believe that any administrator could perceive and recognize the nature of the scheme,” Drummond said. “It was a very well-developed scheme. I give high credit to Auditor Cindy Byrd, whose team unwound and followed every lead and pulled on strings until we discovered the fraud scheme.”
TPS Superintendent Ebony Johnson attended the prosecutors’ press conference and read a statement from her phone afterward. Johnson, who declined to take questions, was not in charge of the district at the time of the alleged crimes, taking over in September 2023 shortly after Deborah Gist’s resignation.
“Under my leadership, Tulsa Public Schools has implemented significant safeguards and operational changes since discovery of this misconduct to strengthen financial transparency and oversight and to ensure this does not occur again, as much as we can support that,” Johnson said. “Our students and community deserve every dollar meant for them, and we remain fully committed to supporting the judicial process as this case moves forward.”
Among TPS changes are separating operations of bond finance and construction projects and creating an online tip portal to report staff conflicts of interests or other concerns. Voters overwhelmingly approved another district bond package worth $609 million in April.
“The mechanisms in place are adequate now,” Drummond said. “As we know, if somebody is sophisticated and intent on defrauding anyone, they can do that. Any entity — public or private — that thinks they are beyond the reach of a fraudster, you’re delusional. This is a wakeup call for all public and private officials to be on guard.”
Both prosecutors are candidates in Republican primary races on June 16. Drummond is running for governor, and Kunzweiler is seeking re-election to a third term.
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